Pupils at Easton Royal School have joined in celebrations this week at the news that the chairman of their school governors Shelley Whitehead has been chosen as the best in the West.

The winners of the West of England Teaching Awards were a closely guarded secret until the presentation ceremony in Bath on Monday.

When the news reached the school, said acting head Tom Hill, there was a huge round of applause from the teaching staff and children.

Mrs Whitehead, who has been a governor at the school for four years and helped steer a new and pioneering federation with St John’s School in Marlborough, goes through to the national finals in October.

Two weeks ago the Gazette revealed that Easton Royal and St John’s schools had signed up to a “soft federation” linking the two schools and giving pupils an all through education from the age of five to 18 with the village school sharing some staff with the secondary school preparing the pupils for their transition when they reach the end of Year 6.

Mrs Whitehead who has one son at Easton Royal school was formerly elected as a parent governor but when that period of office expired became a community governor and was elected chairman.

Easton Royal is one of Wiltshire’s smaller schools with 40 pupils but it is very progressive, had a new wing built on three years ago and in the same year was given an “outstanding” Ofsted report.

Mrs Whitehead, who runs a business consultancy, said she enjoyed her work as a governor and added: “It’s all about giving something back to the community and helping a small school meet the challenges that come up all the time.”

She added: “School governors do work very hard and it is nice that this is recognised.”

She said her team of 11 governors and four associate members worked very closely with acting head Tom Hill and the teaching staff, with the parents and also with the pupils meeting members of the school council regularly.

She was nominated for the Governor of the Year awards both by her colleagues and by Mr Hill who said this week: “She has done so much for this school in particularly the affiliation with St John’s. I think this had a lot to do with her winning because nothing like this has been done before.”

Mr Hill has been standing in since the retirement of long serving head Vivien Swift until new head Nicola Coupe arrives in September.